Synopsis: ‘PREPARE TO GET SLAUGHTERED… Welcome to Slaughterhouse, an elite boarding school where boys and girls are groomed for power and greatness…and they’re about to meet their match. This ancient and ordered world is about to be shaken to its foundations – literally – when a controversial frack site on prized school woodland causes seismic tremors, a mysterious sinkhole, and an unspeakable horror to be unleashed. Soon a new pecking order will be established as the pupils and teachers alike become locked in a bloody battle for survival…

In 2014 the 100th anniversary of WWI began, and since then we’ve had a plethora of films, documentaries, tributes and dramas about the Great War. Most have been excellent, some middling, but it’s an exhaustive list, and some would say exhausting. However, this version of RC Sherriff’s play deserves to be seen, tired as you may be with war films. It’s released to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the 1918 spring offensive, and is a noble addition to the list of films dealing with the great conflict.

It’s a version of Sherriff’s play that sticks to the script – for the most part. There are some added four-letter words which he never wrote, and which add little to the power of the piece. Meanwhile some lines about cricket, Alice in Wonderland and drinking have been cut. However it conveys, like the play and the fine 1988 TV film, the regimen of the men on the front, the nervousness, the routine, sometimes the boredom, and certainly the sheer terror of being in a trench 60 yards away from the German fortifications – “the width of a rugby field”. [Read more…]

Synopsis: ‘Based on RC Sherriff’s play and novel of the same name JOURNEY’S END is set in March 1918 as C-Company, led by a war-weary Captain Stanhope (Sam Claflin) arrives in northern France to take its turn in the front-line trenches. Told that a German offensive is imminent Stanhope drowns his fears in whisky whilst the officers (Paul Bettany, Stephen Graham, Tom Sturridge) and their cook (Toby Jones) attempt to distract themselves in their dugout with talk of food and life before war.

‘They are joined by Raleigh (Asa Butterfield), a young new officer fresh out of training excited about his first real posting, and a chance to serve under Stanhope. Raleigh’s naivety serves as a stark contrast to the other men’s impending fear as the tension rises and the attack draws ever closer.’

Saul Dibb (Suite Française, The Duchess) directs the movie, which will arrive in UK cinemas February 2nd 2018. Take a look at the trailer below. [Read more…]

A couple of years ago Asa Butterfield was in space as the talented title character in Ender’s Game. Now he’s going back for The Space Between Us, a sci-fi teen love story. It also has a slight feel of the sort of existential science fiction the 1970s gave us.

Here’s the synopsis: ‘Described as being a “star-crossed science fiction love story,” The Space Between Us follows two teens from different worlds. Gardner Elliot, the first human born on Mars, is secretly raised in an experimental colony after his astronaut mother dies during childbirth. Sixteen years later, Gardner begins an online romance with a girl living in Colorado and hatches a plan to travel across the universe to meet her. Now, on the run, with Earth’s gravity threatening his very existence, Gardner must race against time and nature to find his love and win her heart. Once united, the two teens venture to seek out the enigmatic billionaire who funded the original expedition to Mars, in hopes of uncovering information about Gardner’s mother and the mysterious circumstances surrounding how Gardner came into existence.’

Take a look at the trailer below. The movie will be out in the UK 10th February, 2017. [Read more…]

A couple of years ago Asa Butterfield was in space as the talented title character in Ender’s Game. Now he’s going back for The Space Between Us, a sci-fi teen love story. It also has a slight feel of the sort of existential science fiction the 1970s gave us.

Here’s the synopsis: ‘Described as being a “star-crossed science fiction love story,” The Space Between Us follows two teens from different worlds. Gardner Elliot, the first human born on Mars, is secretly raised in an experimental colony after his astronaut mother dies during childbirth. Sixteen years later, Gardner begins an online romance with a girl living in Colorado and hatches a plan to travel across the universe to meet her. Now, on the run, with Earth’s gravity threatening his very existence, Gardner must race against time and nature to find his love and win her heart. Once united, the two teens venture to seek out the enigmatic billionaire who funded the original expedition to Mars, in hopes of uncovering information about Gardner’s mother and the mysterious circumstances surrounding how Gardner came into existence.’

Take a look at the trailer below. The movie will be out in the UK 10th February, 2017. [Read more…]

Tim Burton is arguably one of the most visceral and imaginative filmmakers around, whose trademark obsession with all things morbid and weird has made him an iconic director. It’s just a shame that most of his recent work hasn’t hit the heights set by Beetlejuice (1988) or Edward Scissorhands (1990), and the last film of his that I really enjoyed was Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street back in 2007.

His style isn’t for all and his Planet of the Apes (2001) and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) remakes are best forgotten. But I was curious to see this latest film to see if it captured his trademark macabre magic, or was yet another movie where it appears he was just a director for hire. [Read more…]